White House plans for Iran attack

This relates to an article published yesterday

The White House Has An Attack Plotted For Iran That Will 'Take A Couple Of Hours' To Complete

Business Insider,

10 October, 2012

Just a day following Romney's hard-line foreign policy speech, it seems as if the Obama administration might have struck back with, of all things, a leak.

A Foreign Policy Magazine article written by former Clinton administration official David Rothkopf breaks down to simplicity how an Obama-run administration would pair up with Israel to strike Iran's nuclear sites.

Using quotes from an unnamed source claiming to be "close to the discussions," Rothkopf shows how the U.S. would pair up with Israel for "surgical strikes" of Iranian enrichment facilities.

"The strike might take only 'a couple of hours' in the best case and only would involve a 'day or two' overall, the source said, and would be conducted by air, using primarily bombers and drone support," Rothkopf writes, according to information gathered from his sources.

Rothkopf's article is titled "A Truly Credible Threat To Iran" and his analysis gives several reasons for the, let's call it, further defining the administration has suddenly given to its military options for Iran.

• Diplomatic: Iran's currency is in crisis, but it doesn't think the U.S. will strike — it knows Israel doesn't have the tech necessary to do it alone, a it's prickly diplomacy with the U.S. makes it seem like the administration is "dragging its feet." Now that Iran knows exactly how, they might be more likely to stand down — essentially, releasing the plan constitutes a diplomatic foot in the door.
  
  
• Public Opinion: A public 'tired' of protracted war is more likely to support a no-muss no-fuss few hours of military strikes if it "sets back Iran's nuclear capabilities by years"
  
  
• Presidential Politics: It's no mistake that less than 24 hours after Romney accuses Obama of having no plan for Iran, that suddenly a plan pops out of the administration (albeit an anonymous one).

Other reports have framed Rothkopf's article as "the U.S. is considering," but in all likelihood, these plans were long ago considered, and are just now being released in light of Obama's slipping polls, Romney's aggressive stance, and the impending foreign policy debate.